Alaska Best Plumbing & Heating - North Pole, Alaska

Tim Sickels

Just got the new System 2000 installed!! Very good looking work!! The technicians were very professional. Two days install and cleaned up after project completed. I recommend using this family owned company. The service is excellent and very good quality work. I will be using them for all my future projects. One more furnace and some plumbing work.

Martin Schneider

We used Alaska Best to service our boiler in May as that's pretty much when it warms up and its usage drops to a minimum. The technician who came out was friendly and to our knowledge at the time did the job completely. Lo and behold, I woke up shivering on November 4th and every thermostat was 10° below their set point. Opening the garage door, I noticed our entire two stall garage smelled like exhaust fumes and smoke. I immediately ran back inside to make sure my Wife and 3 kids were alive and safe (carbon monoxide hadn't yet entered the house Thank God). After opening the garage doors it aired after 10 minutes.

After going back out to the garage to close the doors, the boiler was in lock-out mode and not running. Unable to see why or what the problem was making it that way, I reset the system and it turned back on after making a very unsettling sound, similar to a muffled explosion. I went back inside and came to check on it again 10 minutes later. The boiler was again in lock-out mode and the garage again smelled like exhaust and smoke. I again aired it out, and attempted to reset the system.

The bang that came from the system shook the house enough so that my Wife came rushing out to check on me(I had jumped beside the garage fridge to protect myself). Our entire garage was filled with soot but luckily nothing was on fire. There was a small explosion inside the ignition chamber causing this. Being as Alaska Best has no 24 hour hotline, I called Stew's Heating Service. He was at our house before Alaska Best even opened for the day.

His inspection revealed that the ignition chamber was full of soot from top to bottom. It had obviously not been vacuumed out in May when Alaska Best was here. There is no way an 8 inch ignition chamber can be 8 inches full of soot after the summer season of barely running. There were burning, fuel-soaked coals inside the ignition chamber when Stew vacuumed it out. If we hadn't called Stew, these could have ignited fully, destroying the boiler or even worse, starting a fire. Not to mention the carbon monoxide they were slowly giving off could have leaked into the house potentially killing all of us.

When I informed Alaska Best of this and asked for a refund, the owner and administrative staff absolutely and disgustingly refused to give us our money back for the "service" they did on our boiler. They said because one of their people didn't come do the fixing, they couldn't warranty their work. Anyone in Alaska knows if your boiler goes out, it's an emergency(it was -36 the day ours went out). The email I received is shown below. I don't know what calendar puts May to November 7 months apart but if you do let me know.

"We have reviewed your customer notes and your request. After speaking to the owner, we will not be issuing a refund for the following reasons:
Any issue with a faulty clean and tune will generally present itself rather quickly, 7 months is not a reasonable timeframe.
Any number of factors can contribute to a boiler sooting up other than a faulty clean and tune.
We were not called to inspect and possibly warranty this work, once another technician works on a system, any warranty we might have provided is void.

While we sympathize with your problems, we cannot reasonably be expected to take responsibility for them."

They sympathize my boiler could been destroyed, my house could have burned down, or my entire family could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, but not enough to issue a refund. They also threatened that me writing this review would be slander and that I should think twice before writing it.

Do not trust this company with the safety of your family, your home, or your boiler.

Also, after having our boiler serviced by Stew's Heating, our fuel oil bill is roughly $300 less per month than it was last year. Granted it's been warmer, but not $300. That drop in price is evidence of the quality of work put out by Stew's Heating. Additionally, Stew even called Alaska Best and explained their technician did a poor job and they still refused a refund.

Nicole Oniu

We had a few issues going on with our septic and water systems in the dead of winter, including a possible blockage, two leaks, and our air intakes freezing over every week or so. Alaska Best was able to give us an appointment for 4 days out. Lonnie and Justin were extremely understanding, friendly, and professional! They thoroughly troubleshot and addressed each problem. Lonnie also took time to explain features of our system and how it works. He explained the issues we were facing, what may have been the causes, and what to look for in the future for preventative maintenance.

Keith Lemay

It was time to replace our boiler unit and water heater, and these guys made quick work of it. Professional, punctual, personable; there is a lot to like about them. Our main concern was keeping our 5 children and two dogs out of their way, but this didn't hinder them as they were family friendly and mindful of the little ones the entire time. I will be calling them to do the annual maintenance because I can trust them to provide peace of mind.

Heidi Schultz

My Furnace wasn't igniting. Called a few places in town and nobody was answering so I called AK best plumbing and heating. The young man was able to come over in 30minutes and diagnosed/replaced the part in 30minutes. He was very polite and I appreciated that he took his boots off without me even asking! They have won my business!

Matt Bradbury

Called them when my upstairs baseboard heat started making noise. Gentleman came out to fix it but failed to turn the heat back on once he was done. This happened in a Friday and their after-hours phone number provided in their voicemail box never called me back. I was left without heat for the weekend in February. Luckily I had a pellet stove.

They came back to fix it at no charge since it was their error. That day, I noticed my septic had frozen up. I called them again and told them I was frozen up and they said they would send him out again and see what is going on.

As soon as the tech got there, he mentioned to me that they can’t do anything about a frozen septic since he doesn’t have the tools to do so. That is understandable but he then tried fixing it anyways. He spent two hours snaking the drain and trying to fix it. He finally got to a point where he admitted defeat. He said he had paperwork to fill out. Come to find out, the paperwork was a bill for $398.05. I paid it to appease the tech since he just works there. I would call and to try and dispute it given the fact nothing was done for me. My issue was not resolved so why must I paid that much for no reason? I still had to call another company who COULD help me out. I was refunded only $108.70. That means I still paid $289.35 to not have the issue resolved.

This company is money hungry and will charge whether they fix your problem or not.

Sarah Bennett

I got an appointment confirmation text the day before, and a phone call when they were on the way! Always appreciate the extra communication. The technicians who arrived to find the source of water leaking were extremely professional and friendly. 10/10 would hire again

Jasmine Couch

They have been my grandmother's first call when something goes on and they ave been great! when we moved into her house after she went to a pioneer home they were just as amazing and they were great with my kids (because they are curious about everything and love to watch) and also great with my 2 dogs (I have a pit and husky who love people and when we watched our friends dog they made sure to call so we could put the dog in his crate) and 4 cats (who crave attention)

When we stopped getting water we called after hours they were there ASAP and found out our well pump went out. They unfortunately couldn't fix it but we are glad we could identify the problem right then and there.